Yee-haw! American Idol goes Country!

I'm typing as I write tonight...

1) Phil sounds awesome... I wish he had a little more energy in his body. But, he really sounds really really great. Overall, a pretty good performance. I'm glad they put him first. Abbey was in the bathtub and could hear him and several times kept yelling "He sounds GOOD."

2) Jordin is up next. Martina gave her some great advice in telling her to plant her feet and sell the song with her facial expression. Man, did she take that advice to heart. She is selling it so far. Ok, she lost t a little when she went up to the chorus. This song is hard. What I like about Jordin this week is that somehow she got a lot of the goat-vibrato out of her voice and added some SMOKE. It did her well. I like that huskier sound in her voice. Keep that, Jordin!

Ah, there is Constantine and his smoldering look at the camera! Ahhhh, love it.

3) Sanjaya. Oh, my. He looks ridiculous. What is up with that hair. "Something to Talk About"????? Of all the songs he could do, he picked the most tired song in the world? Why, Sanjaya, why? For about 5 seconds last week, I actually wasn't repulsed by the fact that you were still in the competition. (When I wasn't looking at his scary facial hair) This week, he is PAINFUL to listen to!!! Argh! I'm in pain! My ears! My ears! If he beats Phil out this week, there is no justice in the world.

I love that Debbie Allen is cracking up at Simon's declaration that Sanjaya was horrendous. He was.

4) Lakisha is next. I'm shocked that she picked "Jesus, Take the Wheel" I bet Aaron 5 dollars that she would sing "In My Daughter's Eyes" Oh well. It definitely sounds different from her than Carrie. Not sure I like it. Oh, brother. She just got to the chorus. Disaster! The song is out of her range. She is not singing - she is screaming. You can barely even hear her for the band. They are overpowering her. I hated it. This could be her demise. She should've picked a different song.

5) I'm scared for Chris. He is starting out pretty shaky... and MY GOODNESS! The fiddle is so off-tune!!! Come on, American Idol. Get a real fiddle player. The whole song for Chris was OFF. His worst song pitch-wise to date. If America has any musical ear at all, it will be between Chris and Lakisha for the bottom 2. Oh, no! I forgot that Chris is from Virginia. He sends his condolences out to the victims and families at VT and he looks like he's going to cry. Awww, now I feel bad. He might've been having a hard time because of that. Well, maybe people will take that into consideration.

6) Melinda is looking hott tonight. She looks like someone trying to win American Idol tonight! She is getting sassy. Why on earth did I doubt for one second that Melinda would have trouble with Country Night? I liked this performance better than any of hers in recent weeks. Ha, Simon asked her to lose the look of surprise as he prepared to compliment her. She did well with the challenge.

Oh, I just love Blake. He's up next and he just mimed holstering a gun... and it looked cooler than any mime I've ever seen.

7) Blake is closing out the show with Tim McGraw. Hmmm. But what song? Ok, "When the Stars Go Blue". Never heard of it. It's not his best vocal ever... but I like that he put his "Blakeness" into it. He is definitely having some pitch problems with this song. I like his falsetto. he should do more in that range. He had trouble bringing it down from the falsetto, though. I liked the beginning a lot - the softness of it. He might've done more with that feel. I didn't care for the crescendo and the more upbeat parts seemed a little forced. I am a fan of crooner Blake. They should've put him in the #6 spot and had Melinda close out the show. My opinion.

Here is my ranking for tonight! (The top 3 were verrry close in my mind.)

1) Phil
2) Melinda
3) Jordin
4) Blake
5, 6, & 7) Chris, Lakisha & Sanjaya - They all stunk as far as I am concerned.

Seriously, I don't care how much Sanjaya's fans love him. He stunk. No gimmick could mask it. Last week, he was tolerable... even OK. This was just ridiculously bad singing.

Who should go home? Sanjaya. Who will? Chris